The story of coffee

What's in the lesson

1. 1Warm-up
2. 2In this lesson
3. 3Guess the words (1)Vocabulary exercise
4. 4Guess the words (2)Vocabulary exercise
5. 5Check the wordsVocabulary
6. 6Reading: from a legend to coffee housesReading comprehension
7. 7Listen: coffee goes around the worldListening comprehension
8. 8Use the new wordsVocabulary exercise
9. 9What does it mean?Grammar exercise
10. 10Find the passiveGrammar exercise
11. 11The passive: present and pastGrammar rule
12. 12How coffee is produced todayGrammar exercise
13. 13Say it naturallySpeaking practice
14. 14How is it made?Speaking practice
15. 15Let's discussDiscussion
16. 16Wrap-up

Homework

1. 1Homework: choose the right wordVocabulary exercise
2. 2Homework: your sentencesVocabulary exercise
3. 3Homework: find the mistakeGrammar exercise
4. 4Homework: the story of a food or drinkDiscussion

Words

• legend/ˈledʒənd/

  an old, well-known story that may not be true

• harvest/ˈhɑːrvɪst/

  to pick a crop when it is ready; also the time when this is done

• roast/roʊst/

  to cook something with dry heat, for example in an oven

• grind/ɡraɪnd/

  to crush something into very small pieces or powder (grind – ground – ground)

• ban/bæn/

  to say officially that something is not allowed

• spread/spred/

  to reach more places or more people (spread – spread – spread)

• trader/ˈtreɪdər/

  a person who buys and sells goods

• plantation/plænˈteɪʃn/

  a large farm where one crop, such as coffee or sugar, is grown

• smuggle/ˈsmʌɡl/

  to take something into or out of a place secretly, often against the law

• export/ɪkˈspɔːrt/

  to sell and send goods to another country

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

Let's talk about coffee.

1. Do you drink coffee? How do you like it, and when do you usually have it?
2. Where do you think people first drank coffee?
3. Is coffee or tea more popular in your country? Why do you think that is?

Grammar rule

The passive: present and past

The passive: present and past

We use the passive when the action, or the thing it happens to, matters more than the person who does it, or when we do not know who did it.

	Active	Passive
Present	Farmers grow coffee in more than 70 countries.	Coffee is grown in more than 70 countries.
Past	Traders brought coffee to Venice.	Coffee was brought to Venice.

Form: am / is / are or was / were + past participle (grown, brought, opened, ground)

Who did it? Add by only when it is important or interesting:

• Coffee was discovered by a goat herder, according to the legend.
• Coffee houses were opened in many cities. (Who opened them does not matter.)

Watch the irregular past participles: grow → grown, bring → brought, grind → ground, drink → drunk, hide → hidden.